Issues
Lobbyists Rankings – A Sham?
Gary is taking a break this week from consulting, blogging and politics. He invited several TAPsters to contribute blogs during his hiatus. Here’s one of them: One of the most distasteful and useless public policy efforts in North Carolina is underway, and hardly anyone knows it. The NC Center for Public Policy Research…
Read MoreNetwork
Does it seem the Republican debates have become a lot like a ‘reality show?’ Herman Cain gets voted off the island. The bachelorette says no to Rick Perry. Michelle Bachman gets voted off Dancing with the Stars? And – in the season finale – we’ll know America’s New Idol. Up…
Read MoreHow Bev Wins
A supporter of Governor Perdue makes this strong and succinct case for her tax proposal: “It could work out for her. She won’t get it unless there’s a groundswell of the public against our per child expenditure being 49th in the nation. If that happens she wins in a walk. If the legislature shoots…
Read MoreKnightdale Builds a Bridge
Over in Knightdale they’re building a million dollar footbridge over the Neuse River so residents can walk or jog or cycle down the Neuse River Greenway Trail, meandering through what they call a ‘wilderness area.’ Even better, if you’re from Knightdale, the million dollar bridge is free because Washington and state government are paying for…
Read MoreBev Is Right
Give Governor Perdue credit: whether it’s good politics or not, she’s doing the right thing on the sales tax. Unless, of course, you believe it’s right for North Carolina to be 49th in the country in education spending. And some people clearly do. That’s the crowd that wants to further defund the schools, so…
Read MoreStirring the Hornets’ Nest
Judging from Sunday’s letters in the N&O, House Republicans certainly have stirred up the state’s teachers. And the NEA has this story about a 10-year teachers’ assistant from Moore County – a Republican herself – who is mad about how the House treated the NCAE and ready to seek revenge. She says: “The folks…
Read MoreLearning Moment for GOP?
A TAPster with years of experience around the legislature offers this take on the NCAE veto override: “The Republicans in the N.C. House have made a needless mess of their agenda with 1 am sessions to take potshots at their political enemies. It’s a mystery why the Rs made themselves look so weak and…
Read MoreSchool Bells or Alarm Bells?
I don’t know enough to judge the changes the new Wake school board is making in the assignment plan. Of course, I’m inclined to trust the new members – and distrust anything the old majority did. But I’m bothered. In the board elections last year and two years ago, voters rebelled against too…
Read MoreTwo Headlines
Newspaper headline: ‘Santorum strategy pays off.’ New York Times synopsis: Rick Santorum reached the top in Iowa with a savvy strategy – by relying on his own instincts he succeeded with no polls, no speechwriter, and skeletal advertising. That’s one explanation. Of course, there’s another. Headline: Lightning strikes Santorum. Synopsis: After his…
Read MoreThe Bedrock Beneath Our Feet
While General Washington camped in New York waiting for the British to attack, fifty-six men in Philadelphia – who said they not only had a Creator but that He’d given them what they called inalienable rights – crossed the Rubicon and told the King of England they were done being colonists. Then, years later,…
Read More